High School

BURLINGTON -- If Terryville High wins the Berkshire League volleyball title, whether shared or outright, the Kangaroos will likely look back on game three of the match Tuesday night against Lewis MIlls as the moment when it happened.

Terryville dropped the first game to Mills, then swept to a 3-1 victory in the BL showdown. The game scores were 22-25, 25-21, 25-16 and 25-14.

Terryville (13-1, 6-1 BL) could not win a league crown Tuesday, but the Kangaroos could certainly have lost one. For part of the evening, it looked like that was going to happen. Mills (8-4, 6-1 BL) won the first game, lost a tight second game and raced off to a big lead in game three. The Spartans looked, to that point, like the better squad.

With the match tied at 1-1, Mills' Katie Hurlock helped stake the Spartans to a 7-1 lead in game three. She served up four consecutive service winners and also tossed in an ace. Mills looked ready to take over the BL race.

But Terryville suddenly brought out what coach Linda Farrington called the team's "best volleyball of the season." Bailey Doran served an astounding nine consecutive points, helped by an ace, an Anna Dupaul kill and a Haylee Ouelette block. Terryville ran away with the game, 25-16, then won game four easily, 25-14.

After falling behind in game three, 7-1, the Kangaroos closed out the match with a dominating run of 49 points to 23 for Mills. In rally scoring, that's remarkable, or as Doran said, "It was insane. It was not to be explained."

Dupaul led Terryville with 15 kills and 15 digs, and Jamie Bridge added seven kills and 10 digs, but during that late run, winners came from everyone. Mackenzie Witham added two kills in the run and combined with Ouellette on a block.

Setter Sarah Ercoli commented on that group effort: "We picked each other up. We never give up. We came into this wanting to be Berkshire League champions. We practiced for two weeks just for this match, and it paid off."

This sounds as though Mills is washed up. Not true. The Spartans still share first place with Terryville. The Spartans won game one, looked good in game two, and seemed poised to run away with game three. Things weren't all bad Tuesday

See TERRYVILLE, Page 4C

for Mills.

"They had the energy," explained Mills' Katie Hurlock, who had seven kills. "We got down on ourselves, but they kept the energy up."

When Terryville surged in game three, "we started to break down," Hurlock added. "We will come back, like we always do, and go into the next game with confidence."

To win this BL title, both teams must still face Nonnewaug. The Chiefs have two BL losses and are in the thick of the title race.

Nothing was won Tuesday, but a lot was learned. As Doran said, Terryville must "remember how tough this one was, and how bad that first loss was to Mills. We have to keep that in mind."

The Spartans now have their own tough loss to remember. The victory, and the defeat, will go a long way toward helping two teams chase down a BL title.

Post a reader comment

We encourage your feedback and dialog. Please be civil and respectful.If you're witty, to the point and quotable, your reader comments may also be included on the Around the Towns page of The Sunday Republican. Readers must be registered and logged in to post comments on the site. Registration is free. Click Here to register.
A Subscription is not required to post comments only a Registration.